How I “Professionally” Cleaned My Carpet for $5

I was in a jam. I needed to have my living room carpet professionally cleaned, but it was not in our budget.

There was only one thing I could think to do: I had to stick to my guns and stay frugal by using some good ol’ elbow grease, carpet cleaner (I bought it from the Dollar Tree), three large sponges, and a bucket of hot water. Thankfully my living room is not enormous!

I started out by getting the entire carpet wet with very hot water. (If you try this, be sure to wear a pair of rubber gloves so you don’t burn yourself!)

After the carpet was wet, I scrubbed very hard with my carpet cleaner and back and forth motions. Then I went over the carpets again with a sponge and some hot water to make sure the cleaner was pretty much of out the carpet.

I decided that I wanted to make sure the carpet smelled nice and pretty so I sprayed my Homemade Febreeze all over the carpet. (By the way, I actually think my homemade version smells better than real Febreeze!)

Next, I opened all of my windows to bring in the fresh summer air and waited for my carpets to dry.It took about a day for them to dry completely. Once they were dry, I vacuumed up all of the loose dirt and crumbs.

My husband said they looke and smelled better than if they had been done professionally! Even though it was hard work to clean my carpet by hands, it was worth it to save the $150 I would have paid for a professional cleaner.

Melinda is a stay-at-home mom to three beautiful children: Madeline, Micah, and Benjamin. She’s married to her wonderful husband Matthew. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging at eBay Selling Mom.

Comments

I have to agree with the other posters that this is not really the best method. My carpets looked spotless but we had to steam clean them before moving, the amount of soiled water that it extracted was shocking! Without that extraction that dirt/debris is just settling into the carpeting further. By using a steam cleaner you are really getting the carpeting a lot cleaner, and removing allergens! If the cost of a cleaner if too much ask around, I was surprised how many of my friends actually have steam cleaners and are more than willing to let you borrow it 🙂

We had to get new carpet in most of our house this year after it flooded in January due to frozen pipes. Fortunately, the insurance covered it all. One lesson we learned from the carpet company is that we have to have our carpets professionally cleaned every 12-18 months or it voids the warranty. We didn’t know that, and I had been steaming and cleaning the carpets myself every month for years. I had bought a cleaner for $100 and *thought* I was saving money doing it myself (the other carpets were white, and we have three boys who track dirt in constantly, vacuuming isn’t enough). Cleaning it yourself will save money short term, but if you have carpet under warranty, make sure to check the terms before you do, as voiding the warranty could be more costly in the long term.

I could never do my whole living room! It’s not very large but I’m sure my arms or knees would give out! Great job!!

I know many have spoken of mold but carpet isn’t made to last forever and I think if you look at the life span of carpet compared to the rate at which it will mold you will find that you’re carpet will outlast its life span before mold appears. Just a thought!

Most Lowe’s are carrying the new Bissel Green Machine (or something like that), and the ratings and reviews on it are incredible. I believe the price, where I am, is $15-20. And you used to be able to find $10 off coupons for it as well. I’d rather rent one of those, for around $10, if you can find the coupon, than save $5 and do it by hand. :oO

Just got an email from Newegg.com; they’re having a weekend sale and I noticed there’s a carpet cleaner there for $139.99 (normally $199.99) with this code: EMCYTZT806
The model is the “HOOVER F5914900 SteamVac With Clean Surge” & the deal is good through Sunday night.

I haven’t used this model but with some of the prices people have mentioned for renting a Rug Doctor, you can buy something like this to keep for the price of 2 or 3 rentals. My parents used to have a Bissell steam cleaner before they switched to hardwood. My sister now has it and still uses it and it works great.